<![CDATA[Love and Obstacles]]>

false <![CDATA[Love and Obstacles]]> 6043922 4 A new book of linked stories by the author of the National Book Award finalist The Lazarus Project. Aleksandar Hemon earned his reputation— and his MacArthur “genius grant”—for his short stories, and he returns to the form with a powerful collection of linked stories that stands with The Lazarus Project as the best work of his celebrated career. A few of the stories have never been published before; the others have appeared in The New Yorker, and several of those have also been included in The Best American Short Stories. All are infused with the dazzling, astonishingly creative prose and the remarkable, haunting autobiographical elements that have distinguished Hemon as one of the most original and illustrious voices of our time. What links the stories in Love and Obstacles is the narrator, a young man who—like Hemon himself—was raised in Yugoslavia and immigrated to the United States. The stories of Love and Obstacles are about that coming of age and the complications—the obstacles—of growing up in a Communist but cosmopolitan country, and the disintegration of that country and the consequent uprooting and move to America in young adulthood. But because it’s Aleksandar Hemon, the stories extend far beyond the immigrant experience; each one is punctuated with unexpected humor and spins out in fabulist, exhilarating directions, ultimately building to an insightful, often heartbreaking conclusion. Woven together, these stories comprise a book that is, genuinely, as cohesive and powerful as any fiction— achingly human, charming, and inviting. 6219495 book 14 5 2009 Love and Obstacles total:115|5:27|4:55|3:28|2:4|1:1| 115 448 316 34 5 1 false false Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 12:53:09 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 12:53:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 26 12:42:29 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 01:51:45 -0700 2009
AH: “Here’s how it works: Last night, on my way to give a reading, I hurt a ligament in my right hand while putting my shoe on. As I was driving this morning and talking on the phone with my sister in London, I lost my g...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 30 11:26:31 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 11:26:31 -0700 2009 Houston Chronicle), Hemon's wry, robust, and entertaining stories bring to light the immigrant's hunger for identity -- caught between two worlds but truly belonging to neither -- and the writer's hunger for validation. Poised be...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 21:05:52 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 08 12:17:54 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 20:52:17 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 20:53:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 1 false false Mon May 25 19:36:16 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 19:36:16 -0700 2009 Slate: "It is when Hemon's narrator arrives in America that Love and Obstacles exchanges the comedy of adolescence for the more complex and bittersweet emotions that are Hemon's best subjects. ... Hemon shows us the nobility and the absurdity of immigrant life, the cruelty and the openness of A...more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Sep 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 09:20:18 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 05 00:56:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat May 30 17:37:43 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 17:41:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 08:04:44 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 16:00:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 11:07:43 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 11:09:32 -0700 2009 I appreciate his process and clear talent, simply was not anything I would chose to read. In fact I slogged through simply to finish it, something I try to avoid.
Had read at least 4 of these in The New Yorker and thought maybe their...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 11:14:59 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 11:23:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 04:57:47 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 12:40:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 08:03:43 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 08:13:03 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 03:27:09 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 04:18:32 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 15:32:15 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 15:34:04 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 06:49:22 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 06:51:09 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 05:27:59 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 20:05:14 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 14:56:27 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 15:00:29 -0700 2009 here.]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Oct 06 09:20:00 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 05 19:00:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jul 06 17:12:57 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 17:12:57 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6043922